Such was Mr.Evelyn: and to this occasion we are indebted for the _Sylva_, which has therefore a title to be regarded as a national work...

It sounded the trumpet of alarm to the nation on the condition of their woods and forests.' The re-publication of the _Sylva_ by Dr.Hunter, coming at an appropriate moment, revived the ardour which the work had excited about 60 years previously, and 'while forests were laid prostrate to protect our shores from the insults of the enemy, the nobility and gentry began once more to sow the seeds of future navies.' Previous to 1812, planting on any large scale whether for profit or ornament seems to have been confined chiefly to great estates, and 'if a private gentleman, in the century preceding, planted an hedgrow of an hundred oaks, it was recorded, for the benefit of posterity, in his diary.' The trade in the supply of plants had previously been in the hands of a few nurserymen, but on the appearance of Dr.Hunter's new edition many private nurseries were established.

This was more especially the case in Scotland, where the Scottish nobility took the lead 'in this national and patriotic work,'-- which promised to be very profitable, owing to the recent introduction of the larch.

The well-deserved eulogy given in the _Quarterly Review_ article to the rapid growth of fine timber of this valuable forest tree was the direct cause of larch plantations being largely extended, because it was said that 'a tree which, if the oak should fail, would build navies, and if the forests of Livonia or Norway or Canada were exhausted, would build cities, is an acquisition to this island almost without a parallel.' And it still is one of the most valuable of our woodland trees, despite the cankerous fungus-disease which has certainly been (indirectly) due in no small degree to injudicious planting in pure woods on unsuitable soils and situations.
This _Quarterly Review_ article of 1813 probably did quite as much to stimulate planting throughout Great Britain as the _Sylva_ itself had previously done; but as Evelyn's classic formed the text for the exhortation, the beneficial effects must of course in great part be ascribed to his influence.
A few years later, the _Quarterly Review_ in an article on Evelyn's _Memoirs_ (April, 1818), again sings the well-deserved praise of his influence on British Arboriculture.

'The greater part of the woods, which were raised in consequence of Evelyn's writings, have been cut down: the oaks have borne the British flag to seas and countries which were undiscovered when they were planted, and generation after generation has been coffined in the elms.